Convincing a studio to make a film is never an easy process, even for someone as successful as Margot Robbie. Studios tend to greenlight projects that can be commercially successful. With that idea in mind, Robbie, the star and co-producer of Barbie, compared the Mattel project to previous films such as Jurassic Park to show “big ideas” correlated to profit.
“I think my pitch in the greenlight meeting was the studios have prospered so much when they’re brave enough to pair a big idea with a visionary director,” Robbie said in an interview with Collider. “And then I gave a series of examples like, “dinosaurs and [Steven] Spielberg,” that and that, that and that – pretty much naming anything that’s been incredible and made a ton of money for the studios over the years. And I was like, “And now you’ve got Barbie and Greta Gerwig.”
Will Barbie gross over $1 billion worldwide like Jurassic Park? Probably not, but that did not stop Robbie from saying it would.
“And I think I told them that it’d make a billion dollars, which maybe I was overselling, but we had a movie to make, okay,” Robbie said about her pitch.
Who is Involved in Barbie?
Robbie stars as the main Barbie, the iconic doll who travels to the real world after complications arise in her home, Barbieland. Ryan Gosling plays Ken, Barbie’s boyfriend who accompanies her on the journey.
“After being expelled from Barbieland for being a less-than-perfect doll, Barbie sets off to the real world to find true happiness,” the official synopsis reads.
There will be different variations of Barbie and Ken from multiple actors. Starring as other versions of Barbie will be Issa Rae, Emma Mackey, Kate McKinnon, Hari Nef, Sharon Rooney, Alexandra Shipp, Ritu Arya, Ana Cruz Kayne, Nicola Coughlan, Ritu Arya, Marisa Abela, and Dua Lipa.
Besides Gosling, actors playing other iterations of Ken include Simu Liu, Scott Evans, Rob Brydon, John Cena, Ncuti Gatwa, and Kingsley Ben-Adir.
Barbie is directed by Greta Gerwig from a screenplay she co-wrote with Noah Baumbach. Robbie will produce alongside Tom Ackerley, Robbie Brenner, and David Heyman. Barbie opens in theaters on July 21.
